1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to size-adjustable footwear, and more particularly an article of footwear with a removable insert configured to alter the size of the article of footwear.
2. Description of Related Art
As children grow, numerous pairs of shoes in increasing sizes are required to accommodate their growing feet. Often, children outgrow shoes before receiving much use from the shoes. Therefore, parents invest a significant amount of money replacing shoes for their growing child. This problem is magnified for certain types of shoes worn for specific occasions or seasons, such as dress shoes or snow boots.
To avoid the cost of replacing shoes on a frequent basis, some parents might purchase shoes in sizes larger than their children's feet to allow the children to grow into them. Other parents may have their children wear a pair of shoes even though the child has outgrown them. Neither of these practices are desirable because the shoes will not likely fit properly, possibly causing podiatric problems.
Typically, most children's feet grow approximately one full shoe size per year, or one-half shoe size every four to six months. Consequently, larger shoes are purchased frequently to accommodate the growing foot size. This frequent shoe purchasing may be financially burdensome for families. Thus, providing a system for allowing multiple foot sizes to fit properly within the footwear would be advantageous to extend the life of footwear by accommodating a growing foot. Additionally, providing footwear that fits properly over many foot sizes may eliminate the potential for the onset of podiatric problems due to improper fit of the footwear.
Several solutions have been proposed to accommodate multiple foot sizes with one article of footwear. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,442,874 to Long teaches an article of footwear having an adjustable sizing mechanism disposed within the heel of the upper of the article of footwear. The Long invention provides a solution for accommodating multiple foot sizes. Additionally, U.S. Pat. No. 3,431,658 to Finn teaches a shoe having an expandable bellows disposed within the heel region of the shoe. The expandable bellows taught in the Finn invention provides the ability to adjust the length of the shoe to accommodate multiple foot lengths so that the shoe need only be made in a limited number of sizes.
The solutions proposed within the art, while they provide for adjustable sizing of articles of footwear, they do not provide for removal of the adjustable sizing mechanism. This may prove to be disadvantageous when the wearer's foot is large enough to fit within the footwear without any need for an adjustable sizer. As a result, the footwear may become uncomfortable to wear or create irritation points on the heel of the wearer's foot. Furthermore, due to the sizing members within the proposed solutions being a non-removable feature, the footwear may become susceptible to wear during the prolonged use requiring replacement of the footwear.
Therefore, a need exists in the art for a removable sizer for an article of footwear.